Tex Texin scripsit:
> This is all speculative for me at the moment, but assuming it is in fact
> blocked, it would be nice to have a status code for this other than page
> not found.
Unfortunately, such a blocking proxy (if that is what's going on) is entirely
conformant with RFC 2616 (HTTP 1.1). Note the last sentence of the following
paragraph:
# 10.4.4 403 Forbidden
#
# The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it.
# Authorization will not help and the request SHOULD NOT be repeated.
# If the request method was not HEAD and the server wishes to make
# public why the request has not been fulfilled, it SHOULD describe the
# reason for the refusal in the entity. If the server does not wish to
# make this information available to the client, the status code 404
# (Not Found) can be used instead.
So if the proxy wanted to tell you why you were being blocked, 403 Forbidden
would be appropriate; if not (as is surely the case), 404 Not Found is
appropriate.
> 1) Would proposing a status code for "access denied by local government"
> make sense?
Only on the assumption that governments who are censoring what their people
see are proud of doing so and wish to advertise the fact to those same people.
> 2) Also, is there a way to look up which sites are blocked by China, or
> more generally by any government?
> (I imagine there are people making investments in promoting sites that
> cannot in fact be accessed.)
On the above assumption, there might be.
> 3) Is there a procedure/protocol/process for becoming unblocked?
Same answer.
> I don't want to address the political issues around this. I think it is
> important for the web to distinguish when a page is blocked vs. other
> causes, and for there to be a way to know which pages are blocked.
But is it important for the censor? I think not.
--
My confusion is rapidly waxing John Cowan
For XML Schema's too taxing: jcowan@reutershealth.com
I'd use DTDs http://www.reutershealth.com
If they had local trees -- http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
I think I best switch to RELAX NG.